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Hi Guys
this cool clip below is in fact a Fender D'aquisto Deluxe (not Elite as stated):
Thought |'d clear up a few things about the 2nd run of D'aquisto guitars made by Fender...
okay as some have pointed out on this forum, the first run of D'aquistos by Fender were manufactured in Japan from around 1984 until 1990 and there were 3 models all made in Japan - Ultra, Elite and Standard. The ultra was all solid. Then after 1990, in 1994 Jimmy D'Aquisto trained up Stephen Stern at the USA Fender Custom Shop in Corona to coordinate 3 models: Ultra, Elite & Deluxe. The USA Elite was made in very few numbers and differed slightly from the previous Japanese model - it had a solid spruce top, solid flame maple solid back and sides. it came in sunburst and natural. Now the USA D'Aquisto Deluxe model (which is my guitar pictured) was a 'team built' custom shop instrument and only retailed for $3279 in 2001, the tops were laminate maple normally 2 piece bookmatched laminates on the front and back. So it was a cheaper option. There is one confusing element - some of these Deluxes are signed by Stephen Stern (as is mine in the photo) and have one piece laminate (ply) tops and backs but solid sides (when I say one piece I mean the laminate sheets are not book matched split) thus denoting that these guitars are masterbuilt, I've also seen Stern made deluxes with other custom options like one piece flamed maple necks and fingerboards with no block markers etc. Therefore the thinking would be that these 'masterbuilt' rather than 'team built' deluxes retailed for more money (like the ultra and elite usa models). All the USA models (Deluxe & Ultra) came with a thick poly finish (even thicker than the Japanese models) and would take a nuclear fallout to get the finish off - apart from this they are excellently made. Hope that clears some things up - in a nutshell there were 2 production runs of these guitars - one in Japan (1984-1990) and one at Corona, USA (1994-2001) best, Ramon.
Last edited by Navigator; 01-05-2022 at 01:34 PM.
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10-14-2021 10:23 PM
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Welcome here! C'mon back!
My ca. 1984 FD'A Elite was a fine guitar -- as good as the best laminated archtops I've played. Only a unique opportunity got it out of my hands.
Originally Posted by Navigator
Originally Posted by Navigator
Pity he didn't get to build more archtops!
Originally Posted by Navigator
On the one hand, everybody makes mistakes and guitar sales-pitch is murky.
On the other hand, Joe is not likely to under-sell his inventory.
Originally Posted by Navigator
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D'Aquisto, Benedetto... Fender's track record in high-line archtops doesn't attest to wholehearted commitment. Why did they go in, twice?
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Originally Posted by Gitterbug
(In your defense I bet there were plenty of people at CBS / Fender who would have been happy to forget those guitars.)
+ + +
Why do does Fender go in and out of archtops and other things?
a) They make giant gobs of money on screw-together planky things. That's their heritage. That's their lane. They've always known it. They're not shy about it.
b) Fender had a few sidelines that worked out, like Rhodes pianos, and a bunch that just weren't great, like Rogers drums and the entire Kaman Group acquisition. Episodes like when thousands of Tacoma finishes spontaneously decomposed right after they closed the purchase cannot have helped.
FWIW the same is true of Gibson (like Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias basses, Akai and the entire Gibson Lifestyle Concept) and CF Martin (like Stinger electric guitars and Fibes drums).
c) It's natural for there to be some degree of slow back-and-forth between people running FMIC who are guitar-heritage hounds and people running FMIC who are have the bottom line foremost in mind. ("Hey, we can own Guild Guitars!! How cool is that! Don't miss the chance! Don't let them get swallowed and stashed by Gibson or become the import line for Taylor!")
d) Or there's just no thought about this stuff -- it just happens.
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Sam, thanks! I didn't forget, just didn't know. Your examples of less-than-successful diversification speak volumes for sticking to the knitting. Let's hope Gibson's new course holds.
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One of the best archtop sounds I've ever heard was a Fender D'Aquisto thru a Twin, but I don't know which model it was.
That said, the touch of the player makes a huge difference.
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Originally Posted by Navigator
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I bought a late-model Elite with the standard-size humbucker route a few months ago. It has an aftermarket pickguard, an hb-sized Vintage Vibe Charlie Christian pickup, and a few cracks in the lacquer. I didn’t know what to expect, but it quickly became my most-played guitar. It’s light and resonant, well-balanced tonally, and it has a sweetness to the higher registers that I don’t normally associate with laminates. The neck is on the skinny side, which bothered me for one day, and probably only on principle. If I’m reading the OP correctly, though, mine is apparently not a late model, despite the full-sized humbucker rout? (Gee, I’m dumb. Made in Japan is stamped on the back of the headstock.)
Last edited by wzpgsr; 10-15-2021 at 07:04 PM.
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Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
Gretsch Custom Shop Falcon built by Stephen Stern
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Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
Agreed about SS - what a great builder! He also made the Classic Rocker which was based on the Deluxe's body - more of a Gretsch style instrument.
That red deluxe proto on reverb is a team built guitar - so not signed off by Stephen - his name would be on the back of the head stock and also his signatire inside the f holes.
thanks
R
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Originally Posted by citizenk74
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Originally Posted by wzpgsr
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Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
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Originally Posted by Navigator
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To my knowledge, Jimmy used Hagstrom bodies/laminates only before 1982 to experiment with laminate guitars, and only a few have been made. After 1982 he used laminates provided by Roger Borys. These were the guitars that were built for the icons like Joe Pass and Jim Hall.
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I always thought those Fender D's were a great bang-for-buck. If I liked 16" gits they would have been one of my top choices.
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Thanks for the history lesson. I guess mine is an oddball. I got it from a player who SWORE the unbound pick guard was original, and the one piece maple top figure looks more like quilt or burl.
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check out this video link where Stephen Stern tells the whole story (in 2 minutes) - by all accounts it would seem the first few he made for fender were literally the first achtops he ever made. Jimmy D'Aquisto (who had worked with Fender previously on the 80s run of Fender D'aquistos) didnt come onboard as an advisor until he had already made a few of them.
Stephen Stern | Oral Histories | NAMM.orgLast edited by Navigator; 10-28-2021 at 04:50 AM.
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Originally Posted by GNAPPI
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Originally Posted by aborodya
Interestingly my Deluxe has solid wood slides but laminate top and back.
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Originally Posted by aborodya
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Originally Posted by Navigator
Hi Ramon, I have a Fender D'Aquisto Elite Natural Finish (serial number E524413) in very good shape. Do you have any idea what that should sell for? I am not playing it, and it should be in the hands of someone who will. Thank you, Bruce
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I have a Fender D'Aq Elite SN 91009 (possibly one of the last ones made in Japan). The fingerboard radius feels to me like it's less than the common (Gibson) 12", but does anyone know if that dimension was standardized on these instruments and, if so, what it was?
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